


The Gilded Cage

by OverthinkingThis



Series: Soulmates, in Every World [2]
Category: Chinese Actor RPF, 陈情令 | The Untamed (TV) RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe, Fluff and Angst, Getting Together, Getting to Know Each Other, Kidnapping, M/M, Things are not what they seem, absent and bad parents, but also not really, but not really, no beta i'll die like wwx, take my hand and we'll make it i swear
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-18
Updated: 2021-01-18
Packaged: 2021-03-16 18:49:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28835871
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OverthinkingThis/pseuds/OverthinkingThis
Summary: “Should I keep calling you ‘just a guy,’” he asks with a teasing smile, “or do you have a name?”That smile.Yibo almost blurts his name out to the guy, but stops himself in time -- it would be a stupid thing to do, given that he’s part of the criminal organization that just kidnapped him.  “Mn,” he laughs, “I’m not falling for that.”A sigh.  “Ah, I suppose that makes sense.  I just figured we’re probably going to be here for awhile, so I should know your name.”  He cocks his head and leans back on his arms, stretching his long legs out on the mattress.The pose, the --everything-- stirs something in Yibo’s chest.  He coughs and looks away.“I’m Xiao Zhan, by the way.  In case you didn’t know already.”“I didn’t,” Yibo admits.  He tries not to know these things.  It’s just a job, he tells himself.-------------OR: Yibo's assigned to guard Xiao Zhan, a rich brat who's being held for ransom.  Or so it seems, at first.
Relationships: Wang Yi Bo & Xiao Zhan | Sean, Wang Yi Bo/Xiao Zhan | Sean
Series: Soulmates, in Every World [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2114349
Comments: 28
Kudos: 163





	The Gilded Cage

**Author's Note:**

> This grew out of a tweet prompt some months ago, and I kept hoping someone would write it, but I guess that someone is now me.
> 
> No beta, so please excuse any errors and remember that this is just fic!

This one is quiet.

Yibo finds it a little unnerving how quiet the guy is. 

Most of the spoiled spawn of China’s rich and influential either spit boastful threats, like the very unoriginal, “How dare you! Do you know who my parents are?” (well of course yes -- that's why you're here) -- or they whimper loudly in the corner, unused to having to sleep on a thin mattress in an abandoned warehouse without hired help to cater to their every want.

They usually make it pretty easy for Yibo not to care about them. Not that he ever chose their fates, of course. _He_ didn't choose to be part of any of this either. For a long time he was just the kid sent to the convenience store to get warmed over buns and whatever cheap drinks were on special. 

Tonight, he’s the one who gets to keep watch over the latest bargaining chip.

He gives the guy an appraising look. He’s pretty. Very pretty. _Pampered_ , Yibo decides. _Bet he’s never had to do a day of work._

Maybe this one is quiet because he’s so sure he’ll be rescued -- sure in that entitled way that Yibo has grown to despise. 

_Must be nice to be treasured. To know you matter_.

Yibo reaches into the supply of snacks he’s been given and fishes out a bag of chips. “Here,” he says, and chucks the bag in the guy’s direction.

Unexpectedly, he smiles, and Yibo feels his stomach give a little swoop at how casually beautiful the smile is. “Hey -- thanks,” the man says, without a trace of sarcasm or ungratefulness.

“Oh. You’re - _uhh_ \- welcome,” Yibo responds, shaking loose the words from his brain because he can’t remember when he’s been _thanked_ by a captive -- or even the other guys in his gang, now that he’s thinking about it.

“I figure you’re just the guy watching me and not the one orchestrating the whole thing,” the man explains, “so there’s no need for me to be rude to you, is there?” Yibo startles at his words and realizes he must have said what he was thinking out loud.

“Yeah,” Yibo huffs with a little smirk, “just a guy.”

“Should I keep calling you ‘just a guy,’” he asks with a teasing smile, “or do you have a name?”

 _That smile._ Yibo _almost_ blurts his name out to the guy, but stops himself in time -- it would be a stupid thing to do, given that he’s part of the criminal organization that just kidnapped him. “Mn,” he laughs, “I’m not falling for that.”

A sigh. “Ah, I suppose that makes sense. I just figured we’re probably going to be here for awhile, so I should know your name.” He cocks his head and leans back on his arms, stretching his long legs out on the mattress. 

The pose, the -- _everything --_ stirs something in Yibo’s chest. He coughs and looks away. 

“I’m Xiao Zhan, by the way. In case you didn’t know already.”

“I didn’t,” Yibo admits. He tries not to know these things. It’s just a job, he tells himself.

Xiao Zhan nods and opens his bag of chips.

“Why - why do you think we’ll be here awhile?” Yibo prods. “Most of you seem pretty sure that you’ll be ransomed quickly.”

“Most of _me_ ?” Xiao Zhan laughs and almost spits out the chip he had just popped into his mouth. He rolls his eyes. “Well, you don’t know me, and I’m pretty sure you also don’t really know who your _laoban_ is demanding a ransom from.”

“Your parents, obviously.”

Xiao Zhan raises an eyebrow. “If you want to call them that.”

Yibo feels a flare of anger welling up inside him at the dismissive way Xiao Zhan is talking about his parents. _At least you have parents._

“That’s pretty ungrateful,” he scowls. “They clothed and fed you - and - and you’re too beautiful to be trying to pass yourself off as having been mistreated.”

Xiao Zhan’s mouth falls open. “Wow. Those are some big assumptions, man.” He shoots Yibo a look he can’t decipher and then turns his back on him.

Inexplicably, Yibo wants Xiao Zhan’s eyes back on him, so he tries again. “I meant -- not everyone has parents who care, like you do.”

Xiao Zhan doesn’t turn back around. “Again -- big assumptions.”

“I’m just saying you don’t look the part. Of the unloved, that is.”

At this, Xiao Zhan whirls around to meet Yibo’s eyes. “So I suppose you’re well cared-for by your gang, then?”

The intensity of the gaze he fixes on Yibo steals the breath from his chest. “Wh - wh - why would you say that?”

“Just that --” he starts, his eyes slowly appraising Yibo from head to toe, “you’re too beautiful to be passing yourself off as being mistreated.” Xiao Zhan waits a beat for his words to sink in, and then turns away again.

“I - I’m sorry,” Yibo mutters when he finds his voice. He drops a bottle of water on the mattress next to Xiao Zhan and hurries out of the room.

_What the fuck was that?_

\------🔐------

The next morning, Yibo arrives to relieve the guy who had taken the overnight shift.

“Yibo.”

“Yixuan.”

“This one is pretty when he sleeps,” Yixuan remarks, one eyebrow lifted.

Yibo doesn't respond, just lets the silence hang between them until Yixuan gets uncomfortable with it and clears his throat. “Anyway,” he says, “get your staring or whatever in today.”

Yibo feels his pulse jump, but schools his features into a disinterested mask. “Why.”

Yixuan takes a swig of his water. “Ah, the boys say the Longs aren't playing ball and _laoban_ is getting impatient to make some kind of demonstration. You know how he is.”

“Mn. Okay,” Yibo grunts, pushing down the panic that blooms in his belly at the thought of the boss getting pissed off. “So... I’ll take over guard duty now. Let me know if you hear anything else.”

Xiao Zhan really is so pretty when he sleeps.

Yibo feels his face soften, the tension leaving his brow when he looks at him. His slightly parted lips with a tiny mole underneath, his lashes gently fluttering on high, sculpted cheekbones. Even the way he’s curled on the mattress, hands tucked almost childlike by his face -- it’s painfully endearing.

When Xiao Zhan’s eyes blink open, Yibo tears his gaze away and busies himself with the containers of food he’s brought in.

“Here,” he says, handing him his own breakfast of warm congee and sliding the bag of cold buns behind his back. “Eat this.”

A sleeping Xiao Zhan may have made Yibo’s heart melt, but a just-awakened Xiao Zhan is making it race. Xiao Zhan props himself up on one elbow and looks up at Yibo with half-lidded eyes, a lopsided smile on his lips. “Thanks,” he says, and the combination of _all that_ with his sleep-husky voice and the tousled bed-head makes Yibo’s mouth go dry.

“Uhhh -- mm,” Yibo replies.

His stomach growls, as if to echo his incoherent mumbling.

Xiao Zhan looks up from his congee. “You’re not going to eat?”

“I - I already did,” Yibo lies, but his stomach betrays him again. He coughs. “I guess I can eat one of these buns…”

They eat in a silence both comfortable and strangely charged. Yibo knows he should watch the door from the other room like a normal guard, but can’t bring himself to leave Xiao Zhan. 

_Don’t be an idiot, Yibo. This can’t end well. Either he’s ransomed and goes home -- and then you obviously can’t ever see him again -- or he isn’t, and you know what laoban is capable of..._

“Are you --” Yibo hazards, “I mean, aren’t you going to ask about what’s happening with your parents?”

Xiao Zhan’s face closes off immediately. “No.”

“Shouldn’t you want to know? It will affect you, even if you don’t… you know… get along with them or… whatever…” Yibo trails off, unsure of how Xiao Zhan will react.

“I can guess how the negotiations are going. Knowing them,” Xiao Zhan says, his mouth a grim slash on his face. He looks at Yibo with a shrug. “I think I resigned myself a while ago to the idea that my life isn’t really my own, so…”

“Gilded cage, huh?”

Xiao Zhan stares at Yibo for a moment. “Something like that.”

Yibo stares back and despairs at how dull Xiao Zhan’s eyes are in that moment. It’s understandable. Yibo feels helpless himself, knowing that if the negotiations drag out too long, Xiao Zhan will be made an example of. It could end up being his ultimate contribution to the whole enterprise -- to burnish _laoban’s_ fearsome reputation for future transactions.

 _Maybe that’s how it will be for Xiao Zhan_ , Yibo thinks miserably, but he doesn’t want the man to spend the whole day thinking about it. _He_ doesn’t want to think about it either. And selfishly, Yibo wants to see his smile again.

So Yibo brings his skateboard in, and tries to teach Xiao Zhan how to ride it. He is too tall and lanky for Yibo’s skateboard, so it doesn’t go particularly well, but it’s worth it for the shrieking, joyful giggles and the broad, blindingly beautiful smiles on his face.

When Xiao Zhan has tired of falling (and being laughed at by Yibo), Yibo shows him some dance moves to try.

“I can’t move like that!” Xiao Zhan protests.

Yibo cackles, and strings together an obscene sequence of body rolls and hip thrusts -- finishing with a crotch grab -- just to make Xiao Zhan squeal and cover his face in mock embarrassment.

“Are you even human, Just-a-Guy?”

Later, when Xiao Zhan mentions that he likes to draw, Yibo goes to find Yixuan for some paper and pens.

“What are you doing, Yibo?” Yixuan poses this question in a patronizing tone that grates on Yibo. Everyone still talks to him as if he were the stupid errand boy.

He scoffs. “You know as well as I do what _laoban_ might do to him if the negotiations fall apart. So… why not let him enjoy the time he has left?”

Yixuan puts his hand on Yibo’s shoulder and Yibo reflexively winces. “I mean _you_. What are you doing? You’re being soft, is what, and you know you can’t get attached.”

“I’m not,” Yibo protests, “I’m only --” but Yixuan cuts him off with a look.

Yixuan’s voice is unexpectedly kind, like he's speaking from painful experience. “Just… just be careful, okay?” He hands Yibo the paper and pens, pats his back, and walks away.

They’re drawing when Xiao Zhan suddenly asks, “What are you thinking?”

“Nothing,” he tries to say convincingly. “Why?”

“You - you look like you have something on your mind.”

It’s true. Yibo has a _lot_ on his mind. He’s thinking about how Yixuan was right, that he can’t get attached to Xiao Zhan -- and about how it was already too late for such warnings. He’s also trying _not_ to think about what’s going to happen to Xiao Zhan. Sliding his thoughts along the edges of it is painful enough.

But of course he can’t say any of that, so instead he cracks, “I was just thinking about how you’re alright for a rich kid.”

Xiao Zhan bares his teeth playfully and swats at Yibo’s shoulder. “It’s not my money.”

“Not yet.”

Xiao Zhan hums over his sketch. “Maybe not ever.”

“That’s what I don’t understand,” Yibo blurts out, and then instantly regrets it, because now they’re veering back into the topics he’d wanted to avoid.

“What? You mean why they wouldn’t pay a ransom to free me?”

Yibo sighs. “Yeah. I mean, if you’re the heir…”

Xiao Zhan’s head snaps up. “Who says that?”

“What do you mean?” Yibo demands a little too sharply, as if he regards this as a stupid question.

“Oh. _Oh…_ ” Xiao Zhan chuckles. “You don’t know.”

Yibo wrinkles his forehead. “Know what?”

Xiao Zhan goes back to his sketching. “I mean, sure. I’m the eldest, but I’m not the sole heir of anything. They don’t _need_ me.”

Yibo feels his gut clench, suddenly realizing that the worst case scenario he’d been skating around in his mind will be the one to unfold. If Xiao Zhan isn’t actually an heir, and the Longs don’t value him enough to pay anything _ever_ , then that’s a green light for _laoban_ to --. 

Yibo pushes away these thoughts and practically begs Xiao Zhan to give him _something_ to hang his hopes on. “But - but surely they would want you back?”

Xiao Zhan sets down his pen. “Let me tell you a story. My _parents_ ,” he says while making air quotes with his fingers, “they like to be entertained -- skits, games, songs… stuff like that. That’s what I’m good for. What they molded me to do. That’s all I’m worth to them.”

Yibo scoffs. “Maybe they just enjoy seeing you learn new things, and like to show off what you can do.” Yibo feels a pang of jealousy, thinking about how lucky Xiao Zhan is to be able to complain about the kind of overweening parental pride he himself had only ever experienced while watching TV dramas.

Xiao Zhan barks out a bitter laugh. “Oh, they’ve made it clear they value the entertainment I can provide more than they value me. Any of us. Once - once they staged a contest to see who could eat spicy food the fastest, and one of my brothers volunteered. But the milk they gave him to drink to soothe the burn wasn’t milk at all -- it was watered down paint. _Paint_. He had to get his stomach pumped at the hospital later, but hey, it was good for a laugh…”

Yibo can't hide his disgust. “That’s - that’s vile!”

“Well, that’s my gilded cage, as you put it.”

Something else about the story churned Yibo’s stomach. “You said, ‘one of my brothers’ -- how - how many brothers do you have?”

“There are nine of us.”

Yibo chokes on this. “Nine? _Nine?_ How can that be? Are - are you adopted?”

“Taken in, more like,” Xiao Zhan grimaces. “So we kind of owe them.”

Yibo knows what that's like, and he suddenly feels dizzy. He rakes his hands through his hair, struggling to get his head around everything Xiao Zhan is saying. His thoughts are whirling and Yibo doesn’t know what to make of it all.

“So,” Xiao Zhan goes on, “you can see why I don’t think they’ll pay up to get me back. But maybe the upside is that you all will leave my brothers alone… that would be a good result, make all this worthwhile. There’s simply nothing to be gained from abducting any of us.” He laughs. “Hey -- maybe your _laoban_ will just let me go if you tell him this.”

Yibo feels hollow inside. “You know that’s not how it works,” he groans, looking away to hide the tears starting to burn in his eyes.

“Yeah, well,” Xiao Zhan says with a regretful bite of his lip, “it was worth a shot.”

Just then, there’s a tap at the door, and Yixuan peeks in to wave Yibo over. Yibo hurries to him.

“Listen -- there’s a midnight deadline coming up,” Yixuan explains with an apologetic look on his face. “Since you’re the junior guy, you’ll have to stay at your post while the rest of us meet with _laoban_ , okay?”

Yibo nods. _Midnight_.

Xiao Zhan isn’t stupid. He reads Yibo’s tight expression and shakes his head. “Well, thanks for making my last day fun. I really appreciate it. Really.” He actually _smiles_ , what the hell. “You've been so good to me.”

Yibo shoves Xiao Zhan’s shoulder. “Oh my god, how can you be so _fucking gracious_ right now? You should be _hating_ me, not thanking me, for fuck’s sake! It’s my fault --”

“Shut up,” Xiao Zhan says, and pulls Yibo in.

Their lips meet, and it is electric from the start. Yibo gasps, and Xiao Zhan dives in after him, deepening the kiss. Yibo winds his arms around Xiao Zhan’s neck and draws him closer, savoring the taste and feel of his lips. 

Xiao Zhan’s hands slide under Yibo’s shirt, and his touch sends tingles of pleasure up Yibo’s spine, clearing away the fog that had been muddling his thoughts. He suddenly understands what he wants now, and it’s right here, in his arms.

Yibo can feel Xiao Zhan pressing him back and down towards the thin, grubby mattress on the ground. “Wait, wait,” he pants against Xiao Zhan’s lips. “Not - _ahh_ \- not --”

Xiao Zhan pulls back and drops his hands with a mirthless laugh. “You’re going to deny a condemned man his last wish?”

“I - I didn’t say no,” Yibo says breathlessly. “I was trying to say... _not here_.”

“Where do you --” But then Xiao Zhan’s eyes widen with understanding. “No. No. I can’t let you do that for me.”

Yibo laughs. “And why not? Listen, I haven’t exactly been free either. Not for a very long time. So what have I got to lose?”

“A lot.”

“But,” Yibo murmurs, cupping Xiao Zhan’s face in his hands and looking up into his eyes, “I stand to gain something too.” He swallows. “Don’t I?”

Xiao Zhan meets Yibo’s gaze and Yibo hopes he sees both the desire and the determination within. Maybe he does, because he pulls Yibo in again for a tender kiss. “Yeah,” he says, and nips at Yibo’s lips, dragging his teeth across the delicate skin. “I want that…”

“Yibo. My name is Yibo,” he says with a smirk.

Xiao Zhan giggles and his cheeks dimple in a way that makes Yibo’s breath hitch. “Nice to meet you, Yibo.”

 _Yeah. This is worth it._ Yibo hasn't made many choices in his life, but he’ll make this one.

Yibo opens the door and scans the room beyond. It's deserted.

He holds a hand out to Xiao Zhan, one eyebrow raised in question.

Xiao Zhan takes it, and they run off into the night.

**Author's Note:**

> References:
> 
> This fic was inspired by this tweet: <https://twitter.com/OldObsess/status/1317184243429236736>
> 
> The milk scene was inspired by this video: [https://www.facebook.com/watch/?extid=0&v=1778387735748534](https://www.facebook.com/watch/?extid=0&v=1778387735748534)


End file.
